MORRISTOWN — A Delaware man was arrested today after he allegedly assaulted two Morris County court officers in a hallway outside a courtroom in the Morris County Courthouse, according to Sheriff Edward Rochford.

Marquise Howard, 19, of Bear, Del., had appeared before Judge Stuart Minkowitz for a status conference on several criminal charges. The confrontation occurred after he and his father, Stanley, got in a “heated argument” with their lawyer, according to a statement from the sheriff.

As the argument continued, Sheriff’s Officer Frank Benevento called for backup. But when two additional officers, Rick Warnett and Sgt. Moire Reilly, “tried to reason” with Marquise Howard, he assaulted both of them, Rochford said. Neither was injured.

Other sheriff’s officers and a Pequannock police officer who were present “collectively apprehended” Marquise Howard and secured the hallway, Rochford said.

Marquise Howard was charged with resisting arrest and two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. He is being held at the Morris County jail on $50,000 bail, with no 10 percent option.

The sheriff said Howard’s father, Stanley, is a self-proclaimed member of the Sovereign Citizens, a group classified by the FBI as a domestic terror threat that targets lawyers, judges and other court staff members that don’t give them the answers they want.

An FBI task force investigating the Sovereign Citizens has joined the sheriff’s office in further investigating the Howards, Rochford said.

In a response on June 30, Stanley Howard, who called that his "bondage name" and noted he prefers to be known as Stanley Bernard or Setep Ibnles, said he has never been a member of the Sovereign Citizens. Linking him to that group represents "a fictional point of view," he said.

"I'm not a member of any group," he said. "I'm not part of a Sovereign Citizens movement. I don't even know what that means. I don't even know what that is."